Post-Fukushima Japan Taps Coal Over Renewables

TOKYO --
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is pushing Japan’s coal industry to expand sales at home and abroad, undermining hopes among environmentalists that he’d use the Fukushima nuclear accident to switch the nation to renewables.

A new energy plan approved by Japan’s cabinet on April 11 designates coal an important long-term electricity source while falling short of setting specific targets for cleaner energy from wind, solar and geothermal. The policy also gives nuclear power the same prominence as coal in Japan’s energy strategy.

In many ways, utilities are already ahead of policy makers. With nuclear reactors idled for safety checks, Japan’s 10 power companies consumed 5.66 million metric tons of coal in January, a record for the month and 12 percent more than a year ago, according to industry figures.

“You cannot exclude coal when you think about the best energy mix for Japan to keep energy costs stable,” said Naoya Domoto, president of energy and plant operations at IHI Corp., a developer of a technology known as A-USC that burns coal to produce a higher temperature steam. “One way to do that is to use coal efficiently.”

Japan’s appetite for coal mirrors trends in Europe and the U.S., where the push for cheaper electricity is undermining rules limiting fossil fuel emissions and supporting cleaner energy. In the U.S., a frigid winter boosted natural gas prices, providing catalyst for utilities to extend the lives of dirtier coal plants. Germany, Spain and Britain are slashing subsidies for renewables to rein in the cost of electricity.

Mixed Bag

For renewable energy environmental groups, Japan’s policy is a mixed bag offers little in the way of policy direction. Instead, it backs the status quo, calling for reactors shut after the 2011 disaster to be restarted while offering no targets for the amount of power coming from wind and solar.

“What had been expected of the basic plan was to present a major policy to switch from nuclear power,” the Japan Renewable Energy Foundation said in a statement. “But the basic plan shows that the government has given up to fulfill that role. The plan does not promote a shift from old energy policies.”

WWF Japan urged the government to set a target to promote clean energy as soon as possible.

“The energy plan failed to present the spirit of innovation,” the conservation group said in a statement April 11. “Japan basically needs to recognize an increase in coal use is a serious issue for climate change. The country needs to push for reduction of carbon dioxide.”

Fossil Fuels

In calling for technology to be used to soften coal’s environmental impact, the plan acknowledges that traditional fossil fuels pollute more and carry higher costs.

Before the accident, Japan got 62 percent of its electricity from fossil fuels, and nuclear made up about a third, according to government figures. Since then, utilities reverted to fossil fuels such as liquefied natural gas and coal to replace nuclear capacity taken offline. Those thermal power sources generated about 90 percent of Japan’s electricity in fiscal 2012, according to figures in the energy plan.

Buying more fossil fuels comes at a cost. The resource-poor nation has run 20 consecutive months of trade deficits and last year backtracked on promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions. That jarred United Nations talks involving 190 nations discussing ways to limit global warming.

Export Hopes

“It’s crucial to have diverse energy sources for a country like Japan, which relies on imports for all energy,” said Akira Yasui, an official in charge of coal policy at the Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry. “Our basic stance is to use coal while caring for the environment as much as possible. Coal is economical and stable in supply.”

Abe’s government is supporting the development and export of advanced coal technology from Japan. According to a growth strategy released in June by the prime minister, the nation intends during the 2020s to commercialize A-USC technology. It’s also seeking to sell a equipment that combines fuel cells with a process called integrated gasification combined cycle to improve the efficiency of power generation.

IGCC, a type of gasification technology that turns coal into gas, is at the heart of Japan’s renewed hopes for the fuel. Impurities are removed from the synthesized gas before it’s burned, lowering carbon emissions compared with plants where coal is burned directly.

Japan’s interest in IGCC technology is on display at the Nakoso Power Station’s No. 10 coal power generator, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant. The unit, set up in 2007 to demonstrate the feasibility of the technology, can produce about a quarter of a typical nuclear reactor’s 1 gigawatt of electricity.

Had it not been for the Fukushima disaster three years ago, the generator would have been closed. Today, it’s up and working after repairs. The station, operated by a joint venture between Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Tohoku Electric Power Co., posted record output for the year ended March 31.

“This was a research generator,” Yoshitaka Ishibashi, associate director and executive general manager at the plant, said in an interview. “They’re usually dismantled once the study is over. But nuclear reactors were suspended, power supply was tight, and 250 megawatt is not a negligible capacity. So it was turned into a commercial one.”

More Coal

Tokyo Electric, better known as Tepco, has other plans to use more coal for the stations that serve 29 million customers around the nation’s capital.

The utility plans to add two more IGCC generators at the Nakoso station and at its Hirono plant, also in Fukushima. A more traditional 600-megawatt coal-fired generator at the Hirono site began operating in December.

Power generation costs from IGCC can eventually be reduced to conventional coal power generation levels at 9.5 yen (9 cents) per kilowatt hour, though that may not happen for 10 years to 15 years, said Ishibashi at the Nakoso power station.

“The plan represents nothing but anachronism,” said Mie Asaoka, head of the Kiko Network, a Kyoto, Japan-based environmental organization.

7 Comments

* Fukushima Disaster: Expensive multi year clean up with many unknowns still lurking.
* Money: Coal is available and can provide short term cost relief.
* National Debt: Is Cushing innovative thought while reinforcing, "It alway worked before" conservative choices such as; oil, gas, and nuclear power.

The aging Japanese tiger is in slumber as it's neighbors continue to mature and challenge the traditional ways of doing business and generating energy in Asia.

Very worrying indeed. Why is it that we are so intoxicated with our growth-obsessed economic models that we can ONLY envision a growth in energy demand? Renewables, in theeir wide array of a possibilities, have three extraordinary advantages: they ARE RENEWABLE (not finite), they are CLEAN (at least when used to produce energy) and they are LOCALLY-PRODUCED, minimizing the losses due to transmission to distant consumption sites. BUT renewables only make sense when combined with a thorough and strict process of cutting our consumption through greater effciency and a fundamental change in some of our most energy-intensive habits, developed during the cheap fossil fuel era. In our transportation systems, in the way we design our cities, in our agricultural and manufacuring systems, a profound reevalution needs to be made and these revamped in terms of this most threatning of threats that is human-induced global climate change. Moreover a revamp would also benefit local ecosystems: the water we drink, the air we breathe, the biodiversity and life-sustaining ecosystems we so desperately need, the soils that give us our sustenance. The UN just came out with a thorough study impounding "modern" lage-scale agriculture for its very deleterious impact on all of these resources and on climate change. It is high time we question the "bounties" of modern-day agriculture. The privately-owned car is incredibly inefiicient as a means of transportation: how can you justfy using a 3 to 4 ton vehicle of glass, metal, rubber and plstic to carry a 70 to 80 kg person? In terms of energy efficiency, pollution, space required, the car is, by far, the LEAST efficient means of transportation compared to others in the city. Options do exist: car cooperative for sharing cars, a heavy promotion of public transportation to make it as comfortable, punctual, efficient as the car, a thorough promotion of the bycicle and walking in our cities which are so incredibly congested with traffic jams and accidents. Enough is enough. so much CAN be done without having to use coal or increase our use of fossil fuels. Enough nonsense please.

I know that many who follow this blog have seen my very pessimistic comments regarding renewable energy and its impact if amy on future use of fossil fuels

I'm called a doom sayer and nay sayer I Know

But here is just one more of a long string of direct evidence that no amount of dreaming and plotting and wishful thinking can change some fundamental facts about why fossil fuels are now,,have been in the past ,and will continue into the future to be 'king'

Not addressing or recognizing these fundamentals on the part of those who wish the hardest for a renewable future will guarantee that fossil fuels drive us over the CO2 cliff with the subsequent and inevitable 'die off' of the human species.

William Fitch lll addresses but one of the fundamental sources of our inevitable failure as a species

Another lies just between our ears and fear provides a great deal of its power

ANONYMOUS
April 15, 2014

Japan added ~6.9 GW of solar PV in 2013; on a per capita basis this is the highest addition rate for any of the large markets and by a large margin. If the article above was balanced it would have mentioned these efforts. Japan is in a tough spot, with very limited opportunities for wind development and a major power shortage that needs to be rapidly addressed. I don't think they should be characterized as renewable energy slackers.
Steven

ANONYMOUS
April 15, 2014

Japan's economic survival depends upon exports. They looked at the German renewable program that has reached 24% renewables but doubled the price of electricity--a cost penalty that would make Japan noncompetitive. The other factor is that limited data suggests renewables costs in Japan may be higher than in Germany. The very high cloud cover over southern Japan knocks down PV outputs while land constraints limit serious wind to offshore. However offshore wind is about three times more expensive than onshore wind. This gives the Japanese no good options. It is why ultimately most of the nuclear plants will be restarted--this time with independent regulatory oversight.

The reality is that the cost of renewable energy is strongly dependent on latitude and climate. This is in contrast to fossil fuels and nuclear where costs are independent of latitude and climate. It implies for a low-carbon world that the fraction of energy derived from renewables and nuclear will vary with location. Japan will ultimately have a larger nuclear contribution due to location and population density unless something like deep well geothermal becomes economic.

Hi: This is so boring, the same old, same old outcomes. Renewables will never be chosen as the first pick in any but the most blatantly financially obvious situations. The energy in all Non Manufactured Renewbales is free!! You can not make ANY money selling the energy!! The ability to have a RECURRING charge for fuels is the MAIN attraction for energy based fuels, and business models in general!! This is intrinsic and can not be altered. Because of this, NMRE's are at a huge disadvantage in a currency based model. This will never change even IF there is a carbon tax. Free energy will always be at that disadvantage...